Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter

Impact of light and scene in portrait photography

Capturing the personality of the subject using different light effects, poses and backgrounds know as portrait photography. Now this subject can be a person or a group. The understanding the importance of lighting and scene can turn the average portrait to awesome one, by making it more editorial, edgy and framing. To add more details to your subject these two factors need to be perfect.

Light

Now you need to decide what and how you want to portrait your subject which will help you to create more drama using different element which makes the picture more real and interesting. In the absence of appropriate lighting no matter how beautiful your subject and background is, it will not give you the perfect shot. You can see the best portrait available on the internet is the one in which the photographer plays with the light and shadow across the subject to make the picture more interesting. For example, if you decided to show the two part of your subject, you can use split lighting, it makes two equal part in a portrait in which one is with the lights and another one in shadow. It will add more dramatic effects to your picture. Generally, it uses to portrait the artist, musician or if you want to add two emotion in the same picture.

Apart from that you can use loop lighting in which light source is higher than subject, you can use natural as well as artificial lighting for this, this will highlight the facial features by creating the small shadow effect of the nose and their cheeks. Well it depends on mood and idea of capturing the moment on the basis of you can use either natural light of sunrise or sunset or can shoot in your studio by using the necessary equipment.

Scene

People tend to ask the photographer how they manage to take pictures at just the right time with the right angle and right pose. Well, there is a story behind every picture, the ideology of photographer and his patience to wait for the right moment. Now imagine your model wearing red carpet dress with jewelry on and posing in the sunrise on the beach side. Doesn’t feel right? You need to decide the scene in which you want to take pictures which can go with the theme or nature of the portrait. A busy background can take away the attention from the subject in pictures. You can use a neutral background if you want all attention to the subject face and want to keep it simple or go for bold and radiant color in which the subject dressed in subtle color so it will make your subject look more edgy and sleek.

It’s alright if you don’t want to use the artificial background for your shoot. You can step out of your studio if you want to shoot with a natural background. Maybe this demand more of your time and effort to find the perfect place and wait for the perfect time to get desired lights but in the end, it’s all worthy. Usually, the best portrait you see is shot on the mountain hills or beachside or just under the millions of start, commonly with a natural background.

The masterpiece of an artist not decided by artist himself but by the audience.

In portrait photography, a photographer shows the side of the subject as per his vision. You need to be at the right place in right lighting with right subject to capture the perfect portrait. Remember the vision you imagine to show in your portrait will not get shot if these three factors are not balanced. You need to be more creative when it comes to using lighting and deciding about the background to make your subject look more beautiful and editorial just like the pictures we saw in Elle and vogues.